Oh, no, Suela! And indeed, your poor dad. How awful for him and all of you. And yet, I'm still relieved that, bad as things are, your parents are in a protected place where help can get to them quickly, and, while you're stressed out and panicking, you're not stressed out and panicking and having to shut everything down and rush over there because without you there's nobody else at all.

having to shut everything down and rush over there because without you there's nobody else at all.

Well, at the moment we're paying $26/hour to have someone from outside be there 4 hours/day because the staff isn't providing the type of support they need.

And despite that, when my Dad called me this morning, he wanted to know if I was on my way over...

Congrats, Scrappy! And good news is good, Dana.

Suela, I'm sorry.

Unrelated, I just watched Loki attack his tail.

Oh, ugh. That's... what's the opposite of ideal, again? That awful thing.

So I've been playing clips of the soundtrack to the new The Great Gatsby and The Pumpkin Does Not Approve. Sat up, all alert, ears back, looking around accusingly. So funny and odd. Too bd for her, I'll probably end up with most of the songs. But maybe I just don't play that much music around the house? Dunno.

Loki doesn't care.

Congratulations, Scrappy!

I'm glad the surgery went reasonably well, Dana.

Frankenbuddha, I'm sorry about the fire and your landlord, but I'm glad you're ok.

Consuela, that sounds like an awful situation. I hope your mother's meds can get stabilized quickly.

Ugh Suela, just ugh.

But Dana, I'm glad to hear your mother's surgery went well.

and it led to the evolutionary what-if of "what if a woman had to orgasm in order to become pregnant?"

Well... female orgasm after male ejaculation *is* recommended, but not required.

I wish everyone with crap news got to do what I did today: help feed now 3wk old kittens. ALL SPOKEN FOR NOT BY ME. But they were all frantic and hilarious and then I got to settle a couple down after and purrs and wobbly and then kitten coma.

And OMG, as much fun as they are, I do not want or need a wee kitten. Even a weaned one. I've done teeny kittens, even hand raised some. But the idea of one so teeny, ahhh panic. Hell, even Devi was already 12-16 weeks and that seems so wee to me still! Loki seemed wee, and he was probably 5 or 6 months here: [link]

female orgasm after male ejaculation *is* recommended, but not required.

Is there any particular evolutionary advantage to a man to ensure the woman ejaculates, though, or is he still best off playing a numbers game?

Of course, I'm imagining women who don't really care to orgasm at a given time--they had enough fun, and now they want to cook dinner or go to sleep or watch the game, and the guy is still going to town downtown. But, still, I think orgasms would be easier to, uh, come by for both genders, and they'd be socialised somewhat differently, which might result in "OMG, I had my first orgasm at 30 after having had 2 kids AND I HADN'T REALISED I WAS ANORGASMIC this whole time." Because you should at least know.

Dana, good surgery and good food? That's great!

My mother is still exercising post clear-scan and all that, because her mobility was severely limited. We had thought it was because of her bad knees, and she'd had knee surgery, but was still tentative and weak, but now she's not settling, and the people around her are urging her (nicely) to not settle, so her PT is now personal trainer, not physical therapist, and I'm very happy for her. Shit, her niece is PT (either one) for the Jamaican Olympic sprinters! We need to avail ourselves of familial expertise.